When does this game start feeling epic?

I'm kind of in the same boat as you. I started playing a couple months ago, so I missed the "newness" of the game. Now it seems that the forums and the game are mainly just guys who are grinding for Hall of Monuments achievements while whining about it was better in the "good ole days". That's fair, and it probably was more fun then, but what can you do?

I also started with the "presearing Ascalon", and enjoyed it a lot. The game had a couple of moments when it started to feel epic for me:

1) when I hit post-searing ascalon
2) when I left ascalon and went into the mountains for the first time
3) the Crystal Desert and Ascention. This was the first time we got totally stuck and had no idea how we were going to get though a particular mission (Thirty River, to be specific)
4) When I went to a different campaign for the first time

There are more epic moments in store for me, I know. The game is really what you make of it.

This game begins to feel epic if you play it 4-5 years ago.

A time travel machine might help you out.

I started playing GW 5 1/2 years ago and only played Prophecies until I burnt out and moved on to other games. Guild Wars is a beautiful game with a great story and real challenges. For a new player yes your going to miss out on having a larger player base in the mission areas, but end game is still alive. I just returned to the game after a few years away and picked up EotN. This is still a great game. Epic for a low level player is the beauty and story. Epic for a level 20 is beating new Hard Mode content and making the perfect build for that particular boss fight.

TL;DR Epic is enjoying the game.

I my opinion, each of the games has its own point where the "epicness" begins.

Prophecies: Once I found myself in a post-Rurik world, I didn't know what I was doing. Sure I was exploring, but the story didn't seem to pull me in, It felt like I was just wandering around randomly, being pushed forwards by the missions. It wasn't until I saw the mesa explode at Augury Rock and I ran in to fight an epic battle against myself, that it truly felt like something epic was going on.

Factions: I think Factions was overall a more fun experience than prophecies. However, the campaign seems a bit too short, and a little lacking in what I would consider epicness. I didn't feel it until Unwaking Waters, but oveall, the missions and the storyline felt more directed than Prophecies.

Nightfall: Aside from the whole regrouping in Kourna section, I think Nightfall has the most epicness. The stakes are higher, that battles are larger, the villans more menacing (and not merely freaky or mysterious). Nightfall aslo has the benefit of tying together the previous games. In my mind, there's little more epic than fighting two final bosses at the same time.

EOTN: It has the potential to be epic, or soul-crushing depending on what you're doing and who you're doing it with. For example, storming Frostmaw's Burrows with a competant team of real players, dodging snowballs, and trying to fend off a five-wurm ambush until you're finished with the horde of elementals you aggro'd, feels pretty epic. Playing with an incompetant team (be it H/H or just unprepared players) and getting steamrolled every five feet, somewhat less than epic. As for the storyline missions, they just don't seem to have the same sense of urgency that the Factions and later Nightfall mission did.

When you're with a PUG and just go romping through Sacnoth Valley in HM like it was pre-searing!

It really doesn't get epic until the last battles of each chapter or until you can get to the Underworld or The Deep or the other endgame places. There's a handful of other excitable moments in each chapter but nothing really epic unless you think fighting against rez after rez after rez of demons is epic fun. (you'll learn to kill the healers and rezzers first).

Most of the entire game is just a linear romper room romp now especially if you start out with Nightfall and get your 3 heroes early. But, you can do it just as easily with Prophecies and Eye of the North expansion and with that combo you can start out with level 20 heroes.

Factions makes you choose sides so you'll lose half of that content until you play it again or go back before the final battle and start up the other side faction story. Factions to me was the worst storyline and chapter very boring hardly any challenge until the last battle.

Well put. And I echo the time machine comments. :P

The game starts getting fun when you stop hanging around Peophecies areas/missions/quests because those are boring like hell and I afked for a lot of those 'defend the area' places. Nightfall and Factions is more fun.

The game starts getting epic when you start getting into the EotN qiestline because EotN is actually fun and has many beautiful areas, and they dobt throw you into a dry bland desert, or some shitty slums or some sorched city.

when you gvg and it's not just about tank&spank.

I recently started playing this game myself.

The game "got epic" for me around the time I reached the Crystal Desert.

From what I've heard, Factions, Nightfall, and EOTN are where the action is. I'll be checking those out after I finish Prophecies.

I still find those kinds of pugs in zmissions, etc.

I found pre-searing in Prophecies and crystal desert epic. Why? Simply because i enjoyed musics there ( something that i can't really say for most of rest of game , where musics all look like same )... Pre-searing is still a fun part to do sometimes ( i.e creating a char just to play it a bit is fun).. i swear a biggest part of the game looked like it